Child Of Light - Preview Roundup #1

Child Of Light was officially announced yesterday, and I have managed to roundup a few previews for everyone today because of that.

IGN

Child of Light is one of those games where you can't help but tell everyone about it the second you put down the controller. The creative team behind Far Cry 3 have harnessed the power of UbiArt Framework, the engine that helped bring vibrant life to Rayman Origins and Legends, and used it to create a gorgeous homage to classic 16-bit RPGs like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.

Part turn-based RPG and part platformer, Child of Light tells the story of young girl lost in a waking dream, and the lengths she'll go in order to become a woman strong enough to save those she loves. After spending about an hour playing though a small slice of the game cooperatively, two IGN editors couldn't help but gush about their experience.

Destructoid

The overall theme of the game is very fairy tale in nature, but don't let that fool you. As gorgeous as this game is in motion, there's a very dark theme to it and isn't meant to be taken lightly. A lot of inspiration comes from grown-up fairy tales, the ones that don't hide the dark stuff kind of like Disney movies. Kids can appreciate them, as can adults. The fairy tale nature even extends to the writing of the game, as all the dialogue is written out in rhyme and ballad form as if everything said feels like a poem throughout.

The developers promise that the game will be pretty "meaty," in that there will be a lot on offer to please JRPG fans. Yeah, it's still weird saying JRPG and Ubisoft in the same article.

Joystiq

There are no random encounters in Child of Light; rather, you see every enemy within the environment and, upon touching them, are thrust into battle. Child of Light's battle system is a variant of the Active Time Battle system employed in the Final Fantasy series. At the bottom of the screen, a bar shows how long it will take for enemy actions (and those of your own) to initiate; casting big spells or employing special moves will increase or decrease your attack timing, so planning is paramount.

It's a direct and simple system to grasp, especially if you've played the JRPGs from which Child of Light draws inspiration. Of course, those same systems take an entire game to develop and show you their intricacies, so this is just scratching the surface.